Manga is the New Marvel

What with action packed fights with mechanic octopi, catchy theme songs, and Jessica Alba, who would believe that such a beautiful, beautiful thing as Marvel Comics could ever be replaced? As the Spiderman trilogy, X-Men, the Fantastic 4, Ghost Rider, and of course Iron Man have all impressed audiences at the theaters over the past few years, there’s been a resurgence of the popularity of Marvel Comics. But at the same time there’s a whole different line of heroes and super villains just waiting to save the day, and their names are less like Steve Rogers and Peter Parker, and more like Naruto Uzumaki and Piccolo.

Anime, a style of art originally from Japan with exaggerated physical features, speech bubbles, and tapered lines, usually expressed in dramatic comic books and graphic novels called Manga, came to America a long time ago in the form of a little yellow fur ball with rosy cheeks and a lightning bolt tail, along with his friends Squirtle and Bulbasaur.

But anime has expanded its horizons far past the Cerulean City, and is currently bordering on world domination. The anime and manga sections in bookstores are growing larger and larger, and every time I try to get the kid next to me to play hangman during math class, he’s drawing some anime action shot!

This thing is an epidemic.

I know kids who design entire anime comic books, with their own original story lines, characters, and styles. A lot my classmaters won’t draw or read anything else but anime. Comic books like Naruto, Kare Kano and other manga series have gotten kids into reading, drawing, and writing. Although many people are offended by the intense violence and sexual innuendo in manga, whatever lets people express their creativity and come up with new ideas is great in my book.